"A transportation facility is an integral part of the community's fabric and it can help define the character of the community or it can destroy it.  A context-sensitive approach to planning and designing transportation facilities will help us to better understand that role and properly address it."

-Mary E. Peters, FHWA Administrator, January 24, 2002.

Direction from the FHWA, regarding the implementation of Context-Sensitive Design: 

• January 24, 2002 - Memo from Mary E. Peters, FHWA Administrator, promoting use of Context-Sensitive Design.

• March 4, 2002 - Letter from Daniel Mathis, FHWA Washington Division Administrator, regarding affirmation of January 24, 2002 memo and requesting WSDOT's participation in advancing Context Sensitive Design.

• FHWA's Vital Few Goal - Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining - includes the objective of widespread use of Context-Sensitive Solutions (CSS) at the project level by September  of 2007.

• October 11, 2002 - Memo from Mary E. Peters, FHWA Administrator, regarding Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining.

• October 29, 2002 - Memo from King W. Gee, FHWA Associate Administrator for Infrastructure, regarding the development of CSS training.

• December 2002 - Transportation Research Board's "A Guide to Best Practices for Achieving Context-Sensitive Solutions" (NCHRP Report 480).

Also:

• FHWA's Human Environmental Section - Context Sensitive Design.

• In 1998, FHWA encouraged and fiscally supported five pilot states in their participation in the CSD process (Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Utah).  These states gathered their state planners, engineers, architects, consultants, and program administrators, to provide internal training and sensitization to their DOT staffs and partners.  They developed work plans for internal training and are at varying stages in their efforts to develop outreach training activities for the remaining states in their AASHTO region. 

  For more details and a summary of the status of the pilot efforts view the Context-Sensitive Design/Thinking Beyond the Pavement at the FHWA Eastern Resources Center.

Updated:  July 31, 2008

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